


Be Bold and Say: "Would You Be Mine?"

by centreoftheselights



Series: an old story, more or less [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Alternate Universe - Olympian Gods, Falling In Love, Fluff, Hades!Virgil, Implied/Referenced Sex, Inspired by Hades and Persephone (Hellenistic Religion & Lore), Kissing, Love Confessions, M/M, Marriage (sort of), Mention of Death, Mention of alcohol, Persephone!Patton, light humour, saying "I love you"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-15 02:37:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18064958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/centreoftheselights/pseuds/centreoftheselights
Summary: Virgil and Patton are in love. Patton's brother would hate it if he knew, so they haven't told him. But Patton wants more than a few stolen moments.It's an old story, more or less.





	Be Bold and Say: "Would You Be Mine?"

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by the song ["Whistle For The Choir" by The Fratellis](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1oKBbReaOs), as well as... a very famous story, which I'll leave as a surprise unless you read the tags. :-P

Patton is laughing, his friends buzzing around him as they stumble away from the club. Patton says goodnight, sets off down the dark street, as deserted as it only ever is at 3am. The smile is still on his face, even as the hum of the music stops buzzing in his ears, the sweat from dancing the night away cooling on his brow in the cool night air.

When he hears a noise in the darkness, he tells himself it's probably just an animal, startled by him passing by. Whatever it is, it's more scared of him than he is of it.

But he draws his jacket closer around his shoulders as he walks on.

“It's dangerous, walking alone at night.”

Patton gasps and spins on his heel at the sudden voice. A figure steps out of the shadows and into the moonlight, his skin bone-pale, wearing black head to toe.

He smirks at Patton from underneath his bangs.

“You could get hurt.”

“Virge! You startled me!” Patton launches himself at Virgil, who hugs him with minimal eye-rolling. “I thought you might not come.”

“And I thought you might be smart and have a friend walk you home. I guess we were both wrong.”

Patton puts his hands on his hips.

“I _did_ have a friend to walk me home. You're the one who was late, mister!”

“… I was watching,” Virgil admits, ducking his head. “Just in case.”

“You always are. That's why I love you.”

Patton tucks his arm through Virgil's, laying his head against the taller man's shoulder. Unseen in the darkness, Virgil is blushing furiously at his last comment. Patton says things like that so easily, as though he can't feel the weight of those words.

“So, your place or mine?” Virgil snarks, trying to cover his embarrassment.

But that backfires when Patton bounces excitedly at his side.

“Yours, please!”

“No, Pat, I meant – I was joking.”

“Oh.” Patton deflates a little, and Virgil's heart aches. A part of him wants to do anything to bring Patton's bright smile back, but – no, that would be going too far. And this thing between them has gone far enough already.

“I'm going to walk you safely home, to your brother and his husband, and I'm going to be gone before they ever know I'm there.” Patton is still pouting. “Come on, Pat, they don't even know I know you. They'd go frantic if you didn't come home.”

Patton is quiet for a few seconds.

“And when I get home…” he says eventually, “will I get a kiss goodnight?”

“If you're good.”

Virgil's lips quirk into a smile, a joke with himself. Patton is always good. Patton is so, so much better than he's ever been. Better than he deserves to touch.

“What about after that?” Patton asks.

“After?”

Patton pulls Virgil to a halt, puts a hand on the middle of his chest.

“What if I asked you to stay?” he asks, breathless.

Virgil can't breathe either. Who needs air, when Patton is looking at him like that? But…

“And have my throat slit tomorrow by your brother?” he asks, trying to keep his tone light but an edge of bitterness cutting through.

“He wouldn't!” Patton hesitates. “… Roman might.”

Virgil sighs. “Roman has his own reasons for disliking me. And Logan just wants what's best for you.”

“What if _you're_ what's best for me?”

When Patton's eyes are shining bright in the moonlight, Virgil can almost forget all the reasons why that isn't so, can't ever be.

“I should get you home.”

Virgil turns to continue walking, but after a few steps he stops and looks back. Patton hasn't moved.

“They're too protective of me,” he says, folding his arms. “I'm tired of it. I'm an adult now, I can make my own choices!”

“And you choose to go out dancing every night?” Virgil asks, one eyebrow raised. He doesn't add: and you choose to walk with _me_?

“I wanted something that makes me feel alive.” Patton takes a slow deliberate step forward, then another. He puts a hand on Virgil's cheek. “I found it.”

“That's rich,” Virgil murmurs.

“Don't look at me the way they do,” Patton says, his voice low and a little desperate. “Don't just see the boy with flowers in his hair, please. Not you too.”

“I don't,” Virgil promises. Patton is flowers, yes, and sunlight and springtime, but he's also the creeping vine and the stinging wasp and everything wild and unknown.

Patton takes a slow breath, so close to his lips now that Virgil can feel his smile.

“Don't see yourself as they do either.”

“Then how should I see myself?”

“As something precious,” Patton tells him.

And at those words, Virgil can't help but kiss him.

Their kiss starts soft, hesitant, as Virgil so often is around Patton, but then Patton surges up on his toes, pulling Virgil down to deepen their kiss, holding him like he's desperate not to let go.

They've never kissed like this before. This kiss feels like Patton asking for something – something Virgil wants desperately to give him.

The last of his resistance quietly crumbles to dust.

They pull apart, both breathing heavily.

“Would it mean that much to you?” Virgil asks.

It takes a moment for Patton to understand, but when he does, his eyes light up.

“You're going to take me?” He asks. “Really?”

“If you're sure you can handle it.”

Patton's eyes flash with defiance for a moment, and Virgil wonders if he should be asking whether his kingdom can handle Patton.

But then the look is gone, and Patton is smiling again, so bright that it dazzles Virgil to look at it.

“What do I do?” Patton asks.

“Just hold close to me,” Virgil tells him. Patton steps eagerly into his arms, without hesitation. “And whatever you do, don't let go.”

“Never,” Patton says, and it sounds like an oath.

Virgil sighs. He doesn't know how he got himself into this, but it's too late for regrets now.

He opens up a portal of shadows, and slips the both of them underground, back to his home.

Back to the Underworld.

 

They arrive in the throne room with its smooth black marble floors and onyx pillars. To Virgil's surprise, Patton's eyes are still open after their journey underground. In fact, he's looking around eagerly.

“Boy, it's dark in here!”

Virgil snaps his fingers, and the torches flare into life – flickering white flames shot with dancing tongues of violet light.

Patton giggles.

“I always knew you were hot.”

Virgil blushes and looks down.

“It's only ghost-light. It doesn't really burn.”

“Ooh!”

Before Virgil can react, Patton runs to the nearest torch, and thrusts his fingers into the flame. It licks coolly over his hand, shimmering eerie-bright against Patton's dark brown skin.

“Patton!” Virgil's heart leaps in his chest. “You've got to be more careful. There are things here which could really hurt you.”

“But you just told me it wouldn't,” Patton says with a shrug. “Besides, I know I'm safe with you.”

He strolls a little way down the room, looking around at the décor. He looks as relaxed as he did on Earth – more so, perhaps. Virgil finds himself a little awed by the faith Patton seems to have in him.

“It's very, uh…” Patton grins. “Monochromatic?”

Virgil laughs. “You think I should add a little colour?”

“Yeah!” Patton says, surprising him.

“What – blood red?”

Patton puts his hands on his hips.

“You think I don't know you better than that? I meant something like this.”

Suddenly, flowers are sprouting from the large urns that decorate the sides of the room. The air fills with the sweet, heavy scent of lilies – calla lilies, to be precise, deep violet with bright white edges.

They're beautiful.

Patton pulls an identical flower out of thin air, skips over to Virgil, and tucks it into the front pocket of his jacket.

“There, much better,” he says.

“Uh huh?”

“Yeah,” Patton says. “You looked completely dead before.”

Virgil blinks at him twice, but he can't keep a straight face. When he smiles, Patton pokes him gently on the chest.

“See! I knew you'd like that one! Now come on!” He tucks his arm through Virgil's. “I want the grand tour.”

 

Virgil leads Patton through a few different rooms of the palace, although he knows that wasn't what Patton meant. He has a destination in mind though, and just as Patton is starting to get restless, they reach a large set of double doors.

Virgil hesitates with a hand on the door knob.

“Are you _sure_ -”

“Yes.” Patton cuts him off gently, but firmly. “I want to see.”

“Alright…”

Virgil opens the door onto the balcony which overlooks half of Hades.

It's a sight to behold, even for him. An enormous cavern underground, its edges disappearing into thick black mists, enormous stalactites of grey stone looming a hundred feet above. The great plain below was split by five wide, meandering rivers – black and yellow and ghostly-white, flickering fire and glittering ice – and the dirt was a dull, colourless grey. The Fields of Punishment weren't visible from this side of the palace – that was part of why Virgil had led Patton here – but the land they could see thronged with the colourless dead of Asphodel, translucent crowds of them making the whole air shimmer as if mist hung over the land.

Greeted by such a sight, many men would turn tail and run.

Patton rushes forwards, throwing himself to lean so far over the balcony that Virgil grabs at his shirt to keep him from falling headlong over the rail and into the inky waters of the Styx below.

“Pat!”

Patton flashes Virgil an apologetic smile as he rebalances himself.

“You are going to be the death of me,” Virgil grumbles.

“We're in the right place for it.” Patton breathes the words in a tone of wonder, before running to the other side of the balcony to get a clearer view. “Oh gosh! It's so big!”

Virgil watches him dart back and forth for a few minutes. Patton is getting progressively more excited, and Virgil finds himself filled with relief. Patton doesn't know – can't possibly understand – how much this moment means to him.

Eventually though, he comes up behind Patton, putting an arm around him in order to point out some landmarks.

“No, that's the boathouse to sail to the Isles of the Blessed. The House of Judgement is over there, you can only just see through the mist…”

“Oh, yes, I see it!” Patton turns to smile at him, and pauses. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“… You're incredible, you know.”

“ _I'm_ incredible? You run this whole kingdom by yourself!” Patton makes a broad gesture out at the landscape. “I can't believe that all this… all this is _you_.”

“It's not much.”

“It's beautiful,” Patton says, as though it's obvious. As though no-one would think differently. “It must be so much responsibility… I want to visit every inch of it!”

“It's getting late,” Virgil says, half-teasingly.

To his surprise, Patton blushes.

“Oh, yes,” he says. “We should probably get to bed.”

 

Patton follows Virgil towards the palace's bedchambers strangely without complaint. Virgil had expected him to demand to see more, but Patton is quiet – uncharacteristically so. Perhaps it's just the late hour.

“Anyway, this whole corridor is bedrooms,” he says, still half in tourguide mode. “There's an en-suite in each one, so -”

“Which one's yours?” Patton asks, a tiny smile on his face. He takes Virgil's hand and -

Oh.

“Patton…” Virgil tries to keep his voice steady, but suddenly it sounds lower than he means it to. “I… You know how I feel about you. But we can't…”

“We can.”

Virgil chuckles. “Okay. We could, but I won't. It's been a long night, you've been drinking… you deserve better than this.”

Patton pouts a little, but he squeezes Virgil's hand.

“We can wait. I don't want to rush you. But -” he smiles, hopefully - “could I sleep with you? Just… sleep?”

“… Of course,” Virgil says, as though the question hasn't taken his breath away.

He shows Patton into his room, with its imposing four-poster bed and black silk sheets. He mumbles something about giving Patton some privacy and goes to change into his pyjamas in the bathroom.

Coming back to the bedroom to see Patton waiting on the bed in nothing but a pair of baby-blue boxers makes him stop dead in his tracks.

“Patton…”

Patton grins at him.

“You wear a lot of clothes to bed,” he remarks, innocently.

“And you, apparently, don't.”

“I don't have any pyjamas with me!”

Virgil raises his eyebrows as he walk over to Patton.

“You could have summoned some. Or borrowed a set of mine. Or -”

Patton cuts him off by pulling his head down for a quick kiss.

“If you want, I can put more clothes on,” he says with a smirk. “Or, you could take your top off and snuggle with me, skin to skin.”

“Pat…” Virgil says, breathless. Patton kisses him again, slower this time, and he feels hands tugging at the buttons on his shirt.

“You want me to stop?” Patton asks softly.

“I… my skin is cold. I don't want you to be uncomfortable.”

“I won't be,” Patton says. “I'm always too hot.”

“You can say that again,” Virgil huffs, and Patton beams at the pun. “Okay, come on, it's late. Get under the covers.”

He falls asleep with Patton's burning heat cradled against his chest. He's never slept so soundly.

 

The next morning, Virgil wakes up to someone kissing him.

“Mmm.” He stirs softly. “Patton? That you?”

“Who else would it be, silly?” Patton murmurs back.

Virgil blinks his eyes open, to see Patton smiling back at him across the pillows. His face looks different without his glasses on – softer, but older too.

“… What time is it?”

“Morning,” Patton tells him. “Although strictly speaking, I think it's _technically_ afternoon… we didn't get to bed until nearly sunrise.”

“And you're…” Virgil reaches out and runs his fingers through Patton's hair softly. “I thought you might be gone before I woke up.”

“I would never -”

“I would have understood,” Virgil says.

“No. No, you don't get to do that.” Patton props himself up on one elbow, frowning. “Virgil, you have to understand that I'm not going to leave you like that. Not now, not ever. You aren't just some fling to me, or a dirty secret I don't want my brother to know. You deserve better than that. I love you with all my heart Virgil, and I will swear on the Styx itself -”

Virgil put a hand over his mouth, his eyes wide and panicked.

“No, please -”

Patton gently pulled his hand away. “I'm serious about this, Virgil.”

“I know, but – don't? I can't… that's too much. I don't want you to risk getting hurt like that. You can swear, if you must, but – not on that, please, it's too dangerous.”

“Okay.” Patton moved Virgil's hand to his cheek, and leaned into it gently. “Then I'll swear on the best god I know. I will love you for as long as I live, Virgil, and I will never ever forsake you. This I swear on Lord Virgil of Hades, King of the Dead, my beloved and my beating heart.”

Virgil feels the oath settle inside him, the thread of magic connecting them. If Patton ever breaks his oath, he has handed Virgil the freedom to punish him as he sees fit.

“Pat, I -”

“You don't have to say anything,” Patton tells him. “I didn't say it so that you'd -”

“I know, but I want to,” Virgil cuts him off. For as long as he's known Patton, he's been afraid to speak his feelings aloud – but now, all of that fear has vanished. “Patton… I love you too. And I'm yours, wholly and without complaint – well, with only mild complaining – for as long as you will have me. I swear that to you, Lord Patton of the Springtime.”

Patton's eyes go wide, and it's so cute that Virgil has to kiss him.

“I love you,” he says again, resting his forehead against Patton's.

“Say that again.”

Virgil can feel Patton's smile against his own lips.

“I love you,” he repeats. “And I'm yours.”

“I love you too, forever and always,” Patton says back. Slowly, he leans back against the pillows, pulling Virgil on top of him as they keep kissing. “Hey Virge?”

“Yeah?”

“It's morning. And I'm entirely sober…”

Patton's hand is trailing along his waist, which makes it a little hard to think. It takes a moment for Virgil to remember what he said last night. Then he blushes.

“You want to…?”

“If you want to.” Patton is a little pink-cheeked as well.

“I've wanted to ever since we met,” Virgil says, and Patton giggles. “But I'm still kinda nervous.”

“Don't worry,” Patton says softly. “I'll be gentle with you.”

Virgil rolls his eyes.

“Shut up and keep kissing me.”

 

It takes a week for Roman to show up on Virgil's doorstep.

Virgil is sitting in the throne room, going over some paperwork, when in storms a tall, muscular God of Heroes swinging a sword. Virgil rolls his eyes and keeps reading.

“Foul villain, I know you have kidnapped the fair youth Patton!” Roman declares loudly. “Release him at once, or face my wrath!”

Virgil sighs, and puts his papers to the side.

“Roman,” he says, in greeting. “Nice to see you. How's it going?”

“Your crimes will not stand!” Roman says, storming forwards down the long room with its lily-filled urns. “Patton will be returning to the surface with us, or you will suffer the consequences.”

Virgil raises an eyebrow. There's a flicker of motion at the side of the room, and it confirms his suspicion – that Logan, God of Knowledge, has accompanied his husband on this 'rescue mission'. It's in that direction that he addresses his next remark.

“Bold of you,” he says, “to command a King within his own Kingdom.”

“You are no King worthy of the title -” Roman snarls, but Virgil cuts him off with a quiet chuckle.

“What makes you think I was talking about me?”

As if on cue – and given that Patton has his own flair for dramatics, he was almost certainly listening at the door waiting for this opportunity – Patton strides into the room. He's wearing an elegant, flowing floor-length gown in a deep shade of violet, matching crown of calla lilies on his brow. He walks onto the dais without even glancing in Roman's direction, and happily sits himself in Virgil's lap.

“I did get you your own throne,” Virgil murmurs, unable to keep the smile off his face in spite of the circumstances.

“But you're so comfy!” Patton replies, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “I've been looking over your files on the Field of Punishments and I – oh, but were you in the middle of something?”

He turns to pointedly look at Roman for the first time, who is standing in the middle of the room with his mouth open, looking as though he's forgotten the sword in his hand.

Logan steps out from the shadows.

“Oh, hey Lo!” Patton waves.

“Patton,” Logan says, with the tone of a parent talking to a disobedient child. “What are you doing?”

Patton bristles in Virgil's lap. Quietly, where the others won't see, Virgil takes his hand and squeezes it.

“I am talking to Virgil about our kingdom,” Patton answers, a little sharply.

“ _Your_ kingdom?” Logan scoffs. “Whatever lies he may have told you, Virgil has no reason to share power -”

“I will thank you,” Patton says icily, “to _not_ call my husband a liar.”

The room goes very silent. Very slowly, Logan turns his gaze onto Virgil, who tries very hard to keep his expression calm as everyone in the room becomes _deeply_ aware of what Patton just implied.

“Your… husband.”

“Patton is my equal, and my Kingdom is his Kingdom,” Virgil says.

“You could at least have had a ceremony,” Roman remarks to no-one in particular.

“We're going to, soon!” Patton says with a bright smile. “Don't worry, everyone is going to be invited!”

“Be that as it may,” Logan continues. “You cannot keep him here. His power -”

Patton jumps to his feet, startling them all.

“Logan, you might be the God of Wisdom, but there are some things you know _nothing_ about. Don't lecture me about my own power! Spring rises up from the earth, and life can thrive underground. _Love_ can thrive, just as well in the darkness as in the light.” He looks back at Virgil, and takes his hand. “I love Virgil, and I will be his King whether you approve or not. It's your choice whether you let us be… or whether I _make_ you leave.”

Logan gapes for a second as the air around Patton seems to crackle with the threat of magic.

“Patton, I -”

Suddenly feeling like an intruder on the moment, Virgil looks away. Instead, his eyes fall on Roman, who looks just as awkward as he does.

“It appears… I was mistaken,” Logan says. “If this is what makes you happy -”

“It is.”

“Then of course, you may have my blessing. Although if Virgil ever does anything to hurt you -”

“If I hurt him, then I answer to him,” Virgil remarks. “That's scarier than anything you can threaten me with.”

“That's… fair.” Logan says. “Patton, I… you will come visit, won't you?”

“Of course I will!”

Patton runs forward, and throws his arms around his brother in an enthusiastic hug. Logan smiles into his brother's shoulder, and then walks towards Virgil.

“Take care of him,” he says stiffly, offering a handshake.

“I try to.”

“Yes, well, he can be something of a handful -”

“Logan!” Patton protests.

“He was playing fetch with Cerberus the other day, nearly gave me a heart attack,” is Virgil's reply.

“ _Virgil_!”

“You think this is embarrassing, wait until Logan makes a speech at the wedding,” Roman says, wrapping an arm around his brother-in-law.

“I changed my mind,” Patton grumbles. “Let's not have a ceremony after all.”

“You don't mean that,” Virgil says. “You're the one who wants to tell all the gods of Olympus that you love me.”

“Well, I do love you.” Patton perches back on Virgil's lap again. “Always and forever, my darling.”

“I love you too,” Virgil says softly, kissing him.

“And I think that's our cue to leave…” Roman says, starting to drag Logan out of the room. “We'll see you two soon! Have a nice honeymoon!”

“Is that what this is?” Patton muses as the door slams shut behind them. “Well, we'd better make the most of it, hadn't we?”

Virgil grins.

“What did you have in mind, my King?”

**Author's Note:**

> Come hang out on Discord with me! <https://discord.gg/SM7JVze>


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